The Lost
by DragonflyxParodies
Summary: The first time they had made a pact with evil, they had saved Hyrule. She prayed this second pact did the same.
1. Chapter 1

Although he had worked against the Dark Lord, he had been drawn to the monster. He had been drawn to the man who'd had such a furious will to _exist_, to accomplish a purpose that he had created for himself that he'd literally stopped at _nothing_, even the physical limitations of flesh. And…he'd been envious.

Because the Fake King had had a reason to live, a purpose, something to drive him on, something to fight for.

He had none of that.

Even then, when he had been rising in the Fake King's ranks, even when he had been telling Zelda of each troop movement, each Temple defiled, each gain and loss of the Great War, his purpose had been temporary. He'd thrown everything into serving the Hero and defeating Ganondorf-and now, afterwards, he had nothing.

No purpose, no will, no reason. Nothing to hope for, nothing to keep him alive.

That was why he hated the dream that came to him each night with a livid passion.

Thin arms cradling him, head resting on someone's shoulder, a soft voice speaking to him. He was absolutely safe, comfortable, peaceful…content. He was protected, there was no danger, nothing but him and the lilting voice of the other person.

He drowned himself in the dream each time it came, and when he woke he wanted nothing more than to destroy it, tear it apart by the seams and burn the remainders.

It was why he lay on the stone floor of his small room, tears streaming down his cheeks as he cursed the Goddesses, cursed the Sages, cursed the Hero. Ice had long ago seeped into his flesh, the worn breeches he wore doing nothing to protect him. Shaking, his hand pushed through the tangled mess of his hair, and he made himself sit up. Empty nausea burned at the back of his throat as he pulled on his armor and weapons, and combed and braided his hair. He rested his forehead against his door for a long moment before pulling his cowl up and slipping into the crowded, dark alleys of Castle Town.

The place he stayed in was a run-down single-room building crammed between a bar and an inn. The only reason he hadn't slaughtered everyone in both buildings was because of the silencing spells he had tied into the very foundations of his home. Ganondorf could return and tear Hyrule apart piece by piece and he wouldn't notice.

But…it wasn't home. It was just a place to rest.

"Sheik!" He felt the Hero's presence before the green-clad man caught up to him. Stopping, he studied Link.

"Can you do something for me? Zelda needs me and I don't have time to do it otherwise I wouldn't ask you." The Hero spat the words out in a hurry it took him a moment to process them, and ignoring the anger that sparked to life within him, he nodded curtly. A bag was pressed into his hand, the tinkling of glass against glass echoing up from it.

"There's a warehouse by the City Gates-a guy there buys these. Just give him my name and you'll be fine." Link offered a grin and vanished so quickly that Sheik couldn't help but wonder if Impa had trained him as well. Then, studying the brown bag, he sighed and turned around. Since the Great War had ended, he'd been reduced to running errands. The only important thing he had done since the War was to retrieve the Zora Sapphire from a would-be thief. And, as Hylians had absolutely no creativity whatsoever when it came to crimes, it had only taken a day to track him down and kill him. It infuriated him because these tasks were nothing worth living over-nothing worth _breathing_ for. They made mockery of something he desperately wished for, and he would rather have _nothing_ than a fake.

He felt the vague stirrings of joy in the very back of his being and knew the Hero had found Zelda.

They were connected, he and the Queen. If he was cold, no matter how many blankets Zelda wrapped herself in, she would feel the chill of ice in her bones. If she was furious, he would feel the bite of anger tempering his own words, even if they were miles apart.

He'd know if she was in danger, as she would he.

Perhaps he hated the connection more than his dream. The dream was his and his alone-he felt things he had no interest or desire to feel through the connection, the desires that should have been left solely to the Queen and Hero.

As he'd learned the hard way, alcohol didn't mute it either.

The warehouse loomed ahead of him-he assumed it was the correct warehouse, as it was the only building that was even somewhat whole-and he slowed his pace as he approached the door. He hesitated before opening it, already searching for hidden dangers.

He froze in absolute shock at what he saw.

The warehouse was alight with thousands of flickering balls, each a different color. Vaguely, he made out faces in each of them, and with a start realized that they were Poe Souls. Mute, he closed the door behind him. A make-shift bed with a threadbare blanket dominated one wall, shrouded by shadows cast from shelves that circled the entire room. Cages rested upon them, although the Poe Souls phased in and out of the wooden bars easily. Pots collected dust in corners, and a few crates rested beside each wall. The Poe Souls drifted everywhere. On a whim, he opened up the bag and glanced inside. A handful of bottles rested in it, each containing a glowing Poe Soul.

"Can I help you?" His head snapped up, blood running cold at the voice. He took a half-step back before freezing at the sight of the speaker, a dim silhouette against a tapestry of Poe Souls.

He'd recognize that voice anywhere.

The figure hesitantly took a step forward, head tilted to the side as they came into view. A hood concealed their face, but he could see a garnet eye glittering from its depths. Light illuminated the ink-black hair coiled around the figures waist, and the pale white shift marked with the Royal Family's own crest. It had seen better days, and long, slender fingers pulled a dark magenta blanket closer around thin shoulders, as the shift ended a ways before her knees.

"You…I'm glad you're alive." There was a trembling to the obviously female voice that spoke the truth, as she slowly came forward.

The thousand conflicting emotions running rampant through his entire being kept him immobile as she reached him. A pale hand reached out and gently, fingers brushed against his cheek. With that simple contact, he felt everything inside of him shattering.

"Did you ever find a reason? A freedom, like I asked you to?" Numbly, he could only stare at her.

She wasn't supposed to exist.

"Y-you…" He took a step back, although he stumbled violently at the movement, and his back slammed into the rickety doorframe. She withdrew her hand, taking a step back.

"Are you alright?" There was nothing but concern to her voice, and that infuriated him all the more.

"You aren't _real_!" He hissed, not even noticing the bag had slipped from his fingers and shattered its contents upon the stone floor of the warehouse, ignorant to the fact the Poe Souls had been released and were flitting around above his head. A silence fell over them.

"Real…? Do you know what I am?" When she finally spoke, her voice was faint, an empty tone to it that ignited more fury within him-she was _never_ supposed to sound like that, not while he could help, not while he could comfort her, not while he was alive. The sudden feeling only enraged him more, as he knew nothing of what was going on.

"I'm not going to hurt you." The words were spoken so quietly he barely heard them, but with only a long look she turned and slowly walked back into the depths of the warehouse.

Absolute terror seized him.

"Wait!" She paused, back to him.

"Who are you?" The silence thickened, tightening around his throat and stealing the air from his lungs.

"I….I'd hoped you would've remembered that." His jaw clenched and he stepped forward, to demand more answers from her, to beg her to tell him _why_ she knew him, _why_ she haunted him, dared to mock with what he so desperately wanted. A hand clamped over his shoulder, and he suddenly found himself facing Impa. Her ruby eyes locked on his, cold and emotionless.

The wild confusion, the panic, the _fear_ overwhelming him , threatening to lodge in his throat, tripled in size.

"Go to Zelda, Sheik."

"Impa, let go of me-" She cut him off and hissed something in a language that made his bones _ache_, and his eyes widened, seconds before his legs gave out and he fell into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

He could taste Zelda's fear, even before he awoke. She was petrified of something-some_one_. Even the Hero couldn't shake that terror from her, with his pleasure and delight and comfort.

He'd once asked Link, idly, perhaps cruelly, if it angered the Hero that he was privy to every second they lay together, each thought that inflamed Zelda's emotions, each treasured memory they believed theirs.

In a very Link-like fashion, the man had ignored the question and continued walking, although Sheik had watched in perverse amusement as the Hero's body language tensed.

He hoped to the Goddesses Zelda felt the terrifying pressure of his confusion and fear and anger and helplessness and need as it threatened to drown him in chaos. Not because he wanted someone to mirror every shallow breath he took as his body burned with fever, but because he wanted her to pay for denying him the sweet pleasure of solitude.

He hated her for being so full of emotion-so he'd made a point to ignore and suppress his. This unbridled mess of his own emotions could have been what terrified Zelda so, he mused.

He could feel ancient magic binding his very bones together, refusing his eyelids the right to open, his fingers the strength to twitch. All of his worldly strength was focused on keeping the weight on his chest from cutting off his breathing.

There was a faint pressure on his hips, his chest, as if someone were lying there. He knew it had nothing to do with the spell-a warmth coursed through his blood, heated his flesh, made his heart ache as he _knew_ someone familiar and comforting and safe was there. He was vaguely aware of something warm, wet, salty, falling on his lips. Then it was gone, and he lay alone again, the agony of the old magic growing stronger as his bones screamed their protest.

He was sensitive to magic, Impa had once told him, much more sensitive than any other being she had ever encountered. He was going to rip the Shadow Sage's tongue out for her understatement when this was over.

And even as Zelda's emotions grew overwhelming, as he strained against the bindings and struggled to thrash around, relieve the screams that threatened to tear his throat to shreds, it seemed to only grow tighter.

He felt the familiar presence of Impa, tried to beg her to make it stop, then dissolved into a long and endless scream as she tightened the bonds until blood clogged his throat.

Like a toy that had been fixed too many times, he was beginning to fall apart for good. He had been a marionette, and his strings had finally snapped with wear and tear.

He was a slave growing ever closer to realizing what freedom was.

He was quickly growing too dangerous to let roam with any degree of freedom, but he was already too powerful for the Sages to hold him.

Two months the seven of them had spent keeping him bound as the remains of the Banishment surged through his blood. Too exhausted to even begin tearing his mind apart again, they'd had no choice but to imprison him-holding him for sixty days had drained every ounce of power they possessed.

With no other alternative, they had thrown him to the Lost Woods and its own Guardian.

The first time they had made a pact with evil, they had saved Hyrule. She prayed this second pact did the same.


	3. Chapter 3

Sheik's eyes cracked open slowly, muscles tensing as he felt someone straddling him. His entire body screamed with agony at his movement, but heedless of his pain, bony fingers tilted his chin up.

"You're awake, little monster…Just in time." A thickly accented male's voice cut into the darkness swathing his head, and Sheik opened his eyes, half-dreading what he would see. Onyx eyes met his, and Sheik realized with growing trepidation, that the man was much too relaxed. Dressed in an odd sort of armor colored in oranges, rubies, yellows, and browns, the man was obviously a thousand times stronger than Sheik would ever be. Fairly long brown hair hung from the man's head, somehow pulled back from his face without a tie. Snickers filled the air around him, and with a muffled oath, Sheik tried to crane his head around to see his surroundings. Dark foliage flooded with shadow surrounded him, and he lay in a small dirt clearing.

He could see bones, some yellowed with age and others white as snow, buried in the earth. Broken.

"We aren't going to kill you." The amusement in the man's voice irritated Sheik.

"Where in Farore's name am I?" He demanded harshly, not daring to strain against the man's hold on him.

"You are…What do you call this place? The...Lost Woods? In our language it is called Faron." He let a long silence fill the air, and Sheik finally replied, although very faintly.

"Can you get off of me?" The laugh the man let loose before obeying didn't lessen his mood.

He knew of the Lost Woods. Knew that while the Kokiri Forest was safe and tame and protective, the Lost Woods would tear the sanity of any man away and do the same to his body. Children enthralled in its dark magic followed the Guardian of the Woods, a creature known as Skull. Adults became a variety of unsavory undead beings-if they weren't devoured. The Lost Woods were a place that prisoners with uncontainable power were sent by the Sages.

The implications hit him like a slap. He stared blankly up at the sky for a long moment, the man standing over him, laughing softly. Time slipped by idly before Sheik took control of himself and suppressed the confused, wild thoughts flying through his mind-what had he done? Why had they done this? Slowly, Sheik pushed himself up, glancing at the man.

"I'm not a child. Why am I not dead?" He asked finally.

"You're a smart little monster, aren't you?" The man mused, studying him intently. Sheik swayed on his feet before regaining his balance, and lifted his gaze to meet the strangers.

"I lead the Lost, the Forsaken and the Hopeless. The Forgotten and the Empty as well. Adults rarely understand that they themselves are beneath my rule…and die rather than obey. You are just as Empty as my children, just as Lost and just as Hopeless. You will not die because you acknowledge that." As the man spoke, the forest around him began to tremble, golden eyes appearing and glittering in black shadows. Sheik frowned, realizing just who this strange man was.

"You look nothing like the Sages depict you." He finally said. A wicked grin lifted the man's lips.

"You believe everything those who fear you say?"

"They never gave me a reason to distrust them." Even by his own standards, Sheik's voice was sharp.

"So you are…unaware of why you are here, little monster?" If he had been in a different position, he would have snarled at the man he now knew to be Skull to stop calling him that. But alone, outnumbered, virtually defenseless, abandoned, and betrayed in the domain of an entity known to find entertainment in pain, he was not in that position.

"Correct." He said shortly. Skull cocked his head, suddenly nose-to-nose with him, and frowned.

"How…amusing." He murmured, before pulling away and lazily wandering into the forest around them, silently gesturing for Sheik to follow. Extremely wary, Sheik did so. They walked down a thin, barely visible trail mostly swallowed by vegetation.

"Are you aware of your…creation?" Again, Sheik shook his head.

"This does not frustrate you, little monster? Not knowing what you are? Not knowing whose flesh you were torn from?" His jaw clenched at the questions, at Skull's light tone, but he did not reply. The golden eyes following them shone with malign mirth, sending cold shivers down Sheik's spine.

"Then it is not in my place to say. Regardless…you come from something the Sages fear beyond all other powers. You were created to keep Naryu's Boon pure while the Blight walked upon Hyrule's earth. When the Blight was defeated…your power began to grow. The Sages knew nothing truly tied you to their whims, and so they tried to control you." Sheik's mind went to the memories, jumbled as they were, of agony, pain beyond anything he had ever felt before.

And the taste of salt upon his lips.

"When you proved too strong, they sent you here." Skull finished. Ducking beneath a large branch, Sheik's expression went carefully blank.

"Why did you take me?" Skull turned around at the question, the smile on his mouth honestly frightening.

"All of those like you belong to me, little monster. I will never refuse one of my children."

Only then did Sheik become aware of the demonic light dancing behind Skull's obsidian eyes.

"I…believe you should meet your…siblings now." The golden eyes that had followed them emerged from the forest.

There were more than he had ever thought possible.

Golden eyed, flesh-and-blood bodies merged with the plant-life of the forest, dressed in the same sort of armor Skull wore, the all silently circled him. His gaze shot to Skull, who still wore the same terrifying expression. Fingers that were nothing more than bone cloaked in dried skin grasped and poked and prodded him. He sensed no menace from the children and let them finger his clothing and hair. He couldn't understand Skull's reaction at all, and cautiously glanced at the other man.

"Do as I ask…devote yourself to protecting my children…and I will let you keep your…current form." Skull said softly, vanishing into the depths of the woods.

Left alone with an ever-growing crowd of children, Sheik suddenly felt acutely alone.


	4. Chapter 4

Long fingers gently tapping his chin, the raven-eyed man watched his children silently from his perch atop the ruins of an old church. The building, half-swallowed by the woods around it, was nothing more than a few crumbled stone pillars and broken windows. It had been a Temple, a Dungeon, a Prison, and now it was his children's shelter, their home.

This newcomer would prove…entertaining.

Quiet and solemn, movements deliberate and measured, his little monster was learning the ways of his children _quickly_. Already he understood they bore only loyalty and love to him, their father. Already he knew they had no mother figure, and that they were no more human than their father.

Skull's lips lifted into a feral smile.

He could sense the connection his little monster shared with the Sage's ringleader, and knew that was why the Sages had not sent him…_elsewhere_.

No, the dead place would not have worked regardless. That was where they sent the Banished, after all-something he was very irked at. The Banished had been one of his, yet not. The Banished had acknowledged his power, but refused to join his children. An enigma he had respected and tolerated. He was _furious_ that the Sages had stolen the Banished from him.

But, the little monster _was_ going to make up for that loss…so it wasn't a total failure.

Ruby eyes brushed over him, and Skull snapped back to attention. That same wary look painted his little monster's eyes, uncertain and afraid and furious and hurt.

_Lost._

His demon luxuriated in the pure _nothing_ in that scarlet gaze.

It could taste his betrayal and anger and hurt and confusion, but beneath all of that, it could taste his emptiness, his aching.

While the Longing were not under Skull's rule-_that_ was the domain of his enemy-his demon ruled the Dreamers. His little monster's Longing drifted close to the Dreamers, awakening the rest of his demon that his little monster's bloody eyes hadn't.

"Do you wish to get out, my demon?" He whispered softly, eyes never wavering.

Oh, his demon _loved_ that suggestion.

Skull let his fingers drop, and pushed himself off of the high ledge he lounged upon. He landed upon his feet lightly, already walking forward. He silently taunted his demon, thinning its cages and letting control dangle just out of reach.

An incomprehensible whisper rose from his children, and he saw a few of them grasp his little monster's hand excitedly. Satisfied that his children had already accepted his little monster as one of them, he let himself fall into his demon, sink into the depths of oblivion as his demon was freed.

Sheik felt the crushing pressure of one of the children's hands on his wrist, and would have been surprised by how strong the child was if he hadn't been focused solely on Skull. The man was…gone. Sheik could feel the sudden absence of the Lost Wood's Guardian-but no vacuum remained. Something _other_ was replacing it.

His instincts were confirmed when Skull's dark orbs turned magenta.

"Wonderful to make your acquaintance, little monster." The Skull-who-was-not –Skull murmured.

"Who are you?" Sheik asked cautiously. The magenta-eyed being smiled. Not a lethal smile like Skull's, but a dangerous smile all the same.

"I am Skull's demon. I am his Jailer, as he is mine. Your Sages call me Majora." Magenta eyes watched his intently, glittering with barely suppressed excitement.

"Majora? I've never heard of you before." A wide grin stretched across Majora's mouth. For a second, Sheik caught sight of an entirely different person-purple-haired, magenta-eyed, pale-skinned-but as soon as he saw it, it was gone.

"You wouldn't have. Your sages dislike me. I am the ruler of the Dreamers, the night-thoughts and the nightmares, the Creative, the Thinkers, the Aspirers, the Inspired. The Hopeful." The last was spoken in a hushed whisper, Majora standing nose-to-nose with Sheik.

"I enjoy games, little monster. I enjoy placing obstacles in my children's paths, to see them overcome them. I enjoy giving them puzzles and watching them work it out. My children walk all different paths of life. Creativity is boundless, and some of my children enjoy blood. The Sages grew angry that I did not hinder them, and so they sealed me into an object. I played a game with one of the Sage's children, and they grew angry, especially after I broke free of that object. So they sealed me within Skull, and Skull within me. A punishment, you see? He was mine, and I was his, and now we are forever together." Majora didn't bother to hide a bitter smile, and Sheik closed his eyes. He understood little of the Guardian beings, but he did understand that _they were not human_. They would never think like a human did-and the Sages grew furious at anyone who thought differently than they did, that he knew. He also understood what it felt to never have solitude-that was something he would _kill_ for.

The hot nub of grief and confusion in his stomach tentatively grew a shell of anger.

A forehead rested on his, and Sheik snapped to the present, eyes widening in surprise at just how close Majora stood.

"Skull demands you protect his children when he cannot. I, too, demand something from you." Majora murmured softly. Sheik frowned, but Majora began speaking again, silencing him.

"Your services will be repaid. I demand that, should I call for your aide, you will answer."

He was absolutely flabbergasted.

"What could I help you with?!" He demanded. Majora chuckled.

"Don't you know? The entire reason the Sages tossed you here."

A cold shiver ran down his spine, and he followed Majora's gaze to his right hand.

Where a gold glow blazed through his bandages.

**-NOT WHAT YOU THINK!-**


	5. Chapter 5

Blearily, Sheik woke from his dream to the strong scent of earth. It was heady, thick and overpowering, the smell of decayed matter coating his tongue it was so strong. Something moved next to him, and he opened his eyes. A child lay curled against his side, fast asleep. He realized he lay within a massive tangle of Skull's children, all of them lying beneath the dilapidated ruins of a stone building. His thoughts clung to his dream, to the dark-haired girl with pale skin who had known him.

"You're awake." He lifted his head up, spotted an obsidian-eyed Skull crouching on a fallen stone, and let his head fall back onto the cushion of moss and loam.

"I…There was a girl. Did…Before I woke up-did you see her?" Sheik asked, voice soft.

"You were alone." Sheik let out a slow breath and raised a hand to push his hair out of his face, but went absolutely still when he saw the mark etched onto the back of his hand.

"What does this mean, Skull?" He whispered. He heard Faron's Guardian move, and someone settled beside him, lifting a sleeping child into his lap.

"It is a very old mark. If your creator would have raised you, you would know what it means. My Banished bestowed upon you some of her power, and her protection. It needed a manifestation."

_Protection…_

"What do you mean Banished?" Sheik growled, although he didn't move.

"It is not my place to say." Skull replied, although his tone was not calm. Sheik stared at the mark on the back of his hand, a cross blanketed by two curling U-shaped swirls, the top point of the cross lifted into three curled ends. It was an elegant symbol, burned gold on his skin. It reminded him of the Triforce insignia upon Link and Zelda's hand, and the one he was more familiar with on the Dark King's hand.

He was entirely unfamiliar with it.

"Then whose is it?" He demanded, fingers forming a fist.

"My demon told you, little monster. Swear to fulfill our requests and I will help you, let you keep your form as well."

"Maj-" A hand clamped over his mouth, silencing him. Confused, and still angry, he glanced at Skull. The man's lips formed a thin, grim line.

"Do not speak my demon's name, little monster. Not before me, but especially not before my children. I may be unable to kill you, but there are other ways to…punish you." His blood ran cold in his veins. Sheik nodded slowly. He saw no reason to Skull's request-but no reason to deny it either. Skull suddenly drew away, the child in his lap waking. Skull's eyes were distant, and a dark scowl lifted his lips before he returned his focus to Sheik.

"What do you know of the...Father Tree, little monster? The Great one…The…." Skull's scowl deepened, and Sheik realized he was struggling with the language of the Hylians.

"The Great Deku Tree." He murmured, pushing himself up. Skull nodded his head vigorously, making the child on his lap giggle.

"Yes. In our language he is called Ordon. He is…Not what you assume. He is ruler of the Innocent, the Childish, the Young. He is…Powerful. But…He is not just. Children are his domain, and mine…He covets." Skull's voice died, nearly cracking. Alarmed, Sheik almost flinched when a hand landed on his leg, but it was only a pair of children who clambered onto his lap, another onto his shoulders.

"Ordon will destroy what is refused to him if he cannot steal it. Your presence will not bother him in the slightest." Sheik recognized the emotion in Skull's voice abruptly. Distress.

"Why?" He asked softly, lifting a particularly small child onto the top of his head as they reached up. Like a sea, the slumbering children around them woke and began moving, soft laughter filling the air as they continued their poking and prodding of the Sheikah.

"Come." Skull said abruptly, shifting the child on his lap to his back as he stood. Sheik stood as well, carefully rearranging the four children climbing on him until he was certain they would not fall off. Arms full, he followed Skull as the Guardian of Faron led him out of the Temple's ruins and into the woods. The raven-haired man was fast, and the child on his head chattered excitedly to its siblings as Sheik ducked and wove around branches as quickly as he could. They traveled in silence, and just as Sheik's stamina began to fail him, Skull stopped, distractedly taking one of the children in Sheik's arms and moving out of Sheik's way as he did so.

Skull had led him to a massive tree. Its roots lifted high above his head, frozen in throws of agony as Skultulla webs and unnaturally large flora and fauna dangled from the waves it created. No living beings except for Skull, his children, and he himself were visible.

Then he saw the figure in the tree.

It hit him like a slap to the face. The 'tree' was really a series of large roots-wider than he was tall-wrapped around an incredibly large being. It soared miles above his head. Its mouth was wide open, roots exploding out of the opening and forming spirals in the air high above, blocking the sun from Sheik's eyes. The being's arms were strapped to its sides, body paralyzed in a convulsion of what he could only assume to be pain. Not much of it was visible except for its head-although a root twined around its throat-and part of its chest, where an ugly scar stretched. Tusks spiraled from the creature's jaw, jagged teeth jutting out and most of them knocked out by the roots. Wide black eyes stared at him from the creature's face. Its chest rose and fell slightly, rapidly.

"This is…What you would have become. You were sent here as a prisoner, little monster. A spot has been selected for you, and the trees have been planted. All that remains is to release your true form." Skull's voice was soft, hovering between the lines of outright deadliness and threatening.

"Where are we, Skull?" Sheik asked softly, a tremor running through him as he turned his gaze to the ebon-haired being.

"This place is where the Dark Realm connects with Hyrule. The Dark Realm's power and the power of Hyrule become one here."

"Which allows beings to show their true self." Sheik said softly, staring at what he now knew to be a prisoner.

"Yes."

"Who was…who where they, before they changed?" He asked finally.

"The Blight's son."

For a second, absolute silence reigned.

"He'd be no older than three!" Sheik exclaimed, whirling around to face Skull. Skull shrugged.

"The Fearful do not belong to me, little monster." The Guardian's face was uncaring. Sheik closed his eyes, forcing himself to reign in his anger. He was being hypocritical.

The Guardian was not human. Not mortal. Skull was different than he was, thought differently.

"Is there a way to free him?" Skull's eyes flickered to a deep magenta before darkening. Skull scowled, and set the children he carried down, shoeing them away before looking back up at Sheik. His eyes were entirely magenta.

"Find his mistress." Majora said, frowning at him.

"Who is she?" He demanded. A smirk lifted Majora's lips.

"Do you know why he brought you here? He needs to protect his children from Ordon, who will attack soon. He wants you to fight for his children and protect them. He knows no other way to ask this of you than to reveal _your_ true form to you then change you back, but he is weak right now." Majora's voice caught, and he frowned as the Guardian's eyes closed for a long second.

"When you arrived the form you are in now was annihilated. He changed you back, fighting against the very power that flows in his veins. He needs you. Do as he asks, and I can promise he will let you find the Fearful's…Guardian."

It struck him then that both Majora and Skull only wanted their needs fulfilled, with little regard to anyone else.

That was alright. He could use that to his advantage.

"Alright." Sheik said quietly. Majora violently shuddered, stumbling back a few steps before abruptly straightening.

"Now is your chance, little monster. The Kokiri are coming."

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They were not dressed in green tunics. They were not accompanied by fairies. They were not even children.

Wispy orbs of green light, the pure spirit torn from a body, they surged as one towards him as he stood in front of the Temple's ruins.

His chain was ineffective. His blades were useless. His magic was powerless.

Not because they had no corporeal form, but because they were all entering his body, trying desperately to wrestle control of his limbs from him.

Despite his orders, the tiny child who had perched on his head was clinging to his neck, face buried in his chest as he screamed.

The agony was unbearable.

They were within his very soul, grasping bits and pieces and tearing until there was nothing left.

An alien power flooded him, pushed them out so violently some of the green orbs winked out of existence. The mark on his hand burned, but he had no idea how to control it. The power was all-consuming, larger than anything he had ever felt or seen before. It was like fire, burning through his body and taking control.

He wondered if Ganondorf had felt something akin to this when he had let the Triforce of Power devour his soul.

But the engulfing power meant little, in all honesty, if it kept the Kokiri out of his body.

He had realized that they could only harm Skull's children with him, something he assumed Ordon-he could not think of such a vile entity as the Great Deku Tree-had created specifically to hurt Skull, and perhaps Majora as well.

One of the Kokiri _pushed_ at him, and he took a small step back.

"_No!"_ The cry tore out of his throat, and he forced all of his emotion, all of his confusion and anger and hatred and despair and loss into that word.

There was an explosion of light, brilliantly colorful with every shade imaginable yet at the same time nothing more than a drab grey. He couldn't breathe for a very long period of time, and without warning he was aware of a something poking his cheek. His eyes flickered open, and he saw the small child he'd been holding earlier perched on his chest. Golden eyes closed, and Sheik pushed himself up. The child squealed with delight as it tumbled onto the ground, and his head jerked up. He could see no green orbs anywhere, and let out a slow sigh of relief.

He had no idea what had happened, but his limbs trembled as he stood and lifted the child up as well. He staggered drunkenly to the side before regaining his balance, but by that time he was swamped by Skull's children. Skull himself stood off to the side, relief etched onto his normally cold features.

Their eyes met.

"Where is his mistress?" He whispered. Skull's arm swept up, and he pointed into the woods.

"She remains in the shadows beneath Kakariko…..Past the dead you and yours lie with, beneath the empty halls of Temples. Your Sages do not want you leaving Faron…If you swear to return you will find the forest will allow you to leave."

Sheik had no idea what Skull meant, by 'the dead you and yours lie with', and the phrase bothered him. The Sheikah had an affinity for the deceased, but he was not a true Sheikah. And, she had so much to do with all that was occurring…Was she a Sheikah? Was that what Skull meant?

"What's her name?" He asked, forcing his pressing questions out of his mind. He could worry about them as he traveled.

"Tul."


End file.
